Secretary of State John Kerry "fails to understand history" by saying Congress will be "screwing" the ayatollah if it fails to approve the nuclear deal with Iran, says former CIA operative Gary Berntsen.

"The fact is that there are $19 billion in judgments against the Iranian government for murdering, torturing, savaging American citizens," Berntsen told Ed Berliner on "The Hard Line" on Newsmax TV on Thursday. "They haven't had to pay it because they're protected under the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act."

In an interview with The Atlantic on Wednesday, Kerry said that if Congress doesn't approve the deal that it "will be the ultimate screwing" of the ayatollah, who "constantly believed that we are untrustworthy."

Berntsen says that "when Kerry's talking about being fearful that we're going to screw the Iranians, the Iranians up to this moment continue to plan lethal operations against Americans where they believe it will intimidate America or push it back. The Iranians have never stopped this."

"So please, knock off the nonsense, Mr. Kerry, let's get down to looking at the agreement here," the former CIA operative said. "We're going to have a vote."

Berntsen also slammed President Barack Obama for saying that the alternative to not approving the deal is war, saying that Obama's statements are "clearly not helpful."

"Republicans are concerned that the Iranians will abide by the agreement," he explained.

While "the president and his team worked very hard to put an agreement together and there are legitimate concerns — will the Iranians fess up to the military advancements that they've made? Are there holes in the agreement?" he said.

"There's lots of holes here, there's legitimate concerns, and the president is really out of bounds because what we all want is peace. We want to find a way forward to stabilize the Middle East and protect our interests," Berntsen added.

Secretary of State John Kerry "fails to understand history" by saying Congress will be "screwing" the ayatollah if it fails to approve the nuclear deal with Iran, says former CIA operative Gary Berntsen.